


Princess of No One

by for_t2



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Azula Doesn't Know How to Try, Emotional Hurt, F/F, Flowers, Hallucinations, Mental Instability, Mild Blood, Monsters, Post-Canon, Recovery, Relapse, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 18:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30126957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_t2/pseuds/for_t2
Summary: Even after Zuko brought her back to the Palace to recover, sometimes Azula still escapes. Sometimes, she doesn't always get better
Relationships: Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	Princess of No One

It all went wrong with Zuko. That’s where it started. Zuko. Not the war, not the Avatar, not that damned water bender, but Zuko. Father had used her as a tool and, well, she was such a good little perfect tool that he had no need for Zuko. So father had tossed him in the trash like you toss a useless piece of scrap. And mother, well, mother was too weak to do anything about it.

And that’s where it all went wrong.

Azula should’ve done something about it. She should’ve shown her mother what a monster really was until she did something about Zuko. Azula should’ve done something about it. She should’ve taught him to stand up to their father. She should’ve taught him to be strong. To be a…

No.

Not a monster. Zuko was good. He was a good person. He didn’t deserve to be a monster. She shouldn’t have taught him that. She realised that now. She realised a lot of things now. Zuko had been surprisingly compassionate towards her after the war, and with the Avatar, had talked her through a lot of things. Had brought in healers to talk her through a lot of things (like calling his treatment of her surprisingly compassionate instead of disappointingly weak). 

“Zuzu?” She glanced up from the map he had laid out on the floor of her prison cell to find him lost in it. “You’re looking in the wrong place?”

He frowned. He always frowned. Especially when she said anything (but he said he was working on things too, and she so pathetically wanted to believe him). “What do you mean?”

“That idiot advisor isn’t going to be gathering his forces here.” It would be a terrible place to try and launch a coup, let alone a full-blown rebellion (and if there was anyone in the world who was an expert on coups, it was Azula). “If you want to play this game defensively, you need to set up your troops here.” She jabbed a spot on the map. “That’s where he’ll launch his attack from.”

Zuko’s frown only got deeper. “A lot of the Fire Nation’s businessmen have homes there. We can’t risk—”

“No, brother!” Azula was meant to be working on her outbursts too, but she didn’t deem that a priority. Especially not when her brainless brother was jeopardising the Fire Nation’s peace. When he was jeopardising his throne. “That is exactly what you have to do. They got rich under fa… Under Ozai, and they will never, never accept you! And you need to bring them in line.”

“Azula…”

“Listen to me, Zuzu.” She ignored the warning in his voice. “If you need me to, I can do it. I won’t even need backup.”

Zuko shook his head, and Azula was tempted to punch him. “You need to focus on your recovery. And I need to focus on diplomacy.”

Azula scoffed. Is this what he considered diplomacy? Coming to her for advice? Acting as if she still, as if she could have a place in his court? “You need to break them.” And damned if Azula didn’t want it. She realised that she had done a lot of wrong and if she wanted to fix that, she needed to start from the start. She needed to start by helping Zuko. “Look, brother, sometimes being Fire Lord means making sure that some people fear you. And there’s no better way to do that then by sending them a monster.”

Zuko stood up so suddenly he almost kicked the map across the cell. “Don’t call yourself that.”

“You’re…” Azula scoffed before holding herself back. “I have done a lot of bad things, Zuzu. Let me do something good. For you.”

“No, Azula!” Apparently he hadn’t been working on holding himself back. “You don’t get to call yourself that! You don’t deserve—”

Something green chose that moment to walk through the door of the cell.

For a moment, Azula’s heart seized. Zuko had promised he wouldn’t give her to the Earth Kingdom. He had promised. He had told her she needed to get better. To heal. To grow. To…

It was one of the Kyoshi Warriors. Just one of the Warriors. It wasn’t the Earth Kingdom, and Azula cursed at herself for being so stupid as to let herself believe something that ridiculous. She was supposed to making sure her paranoia got better.

But it was one of the Warriors. And that made something in Azula’s heart turn uncomfortably. They had been invited to the Fire Nation to guard her (because who else would be strong enough to guard the most powerful, most deranged firebender the world had ever seen?). But she hadn’t seen Ty Lee. Zuko had told her, of course, that Ty Lee had joined them, but Azula hadn’t seen her. Not yet.

She wasn’t sure if she could.

The healers had made her talk about them. About Ty Lee. About Mai. That they were her friends. That she wasn’t very good at expressing what that meant to her, that she wasn’t very good at being emotionally available to them, of being supportive and considerate. Azula was supposed to be working on that. She had written them a—

No, she was supposed to write them a letter.

She was going to write them a letter. She hadn’t asked for paper yet. She didn’t know if they would trust her with a pen yet. She wasn’t sure if they would be right to trust her with a pen. She could make anything into a deadly weapon. It was something she was very good at. Unlike writing letters, apparently. Unlike being a… She need to write that—

“Azula?”

Azula jumped as the Warrior spoke her name. As she realised she had been ignoring the Warrior. It was very rude of her. She needed to be considerate. “I’m sorry. My mind has been busy. Would you like some…” Well, this was a prison cell, so she had no tea. “I’m sorry.”

The Warrior sighed. And then Azula frowned. She had seen that Warrior before. She knew her. “Everyone’s been looking for you, Princess. We need to take you back to the palace.”

She recognised those eyes. “Ty Lee?” No. It wasn’t. Ty Lee wasn’t guarding her. She hadn’t seen Ty Lee yet. It was just a hallucination (and after an early session with the healers, Azula had demanded to know everything there was about hallucinations – she needed to make absolutely sure she beat them). “Go away.”

The hallucination just sighed again. “Princess Azula, it’s not safe out—”

“Call me Azula!” Something flared inside her and, for a moment, she thought she was about to breathe fire. But she was better now. “Just Azula. Please. My friends just call me Azula.” She was better at a lot of things now. Including communication. And making sure her friends could feel open with her. “I order you to call me Azula.”

The hallucination rolled her eyes. And Azula noticed that Zuko was long gone. Typical. He always left as quickly as he appeared these days. She didn’t blame him. Nobody needs to be around a monster for too long. “Why do you always have to make this so difficult, Azula?”

“Please, sit.” Azula scooted over on the stone floor, giving Ty Lee a path towards the empty prison cot. She wanted her friend to be comfortable. Especially Ty Lee. “It’s been a long time. There’s a lot of things we should talk about.”

“Azula, please.”

“Come on.” Azula patted the cot. “I’m a lot better now.” And then she remembered something that always made Ty Lee smile. “And you look good.” When she didn’t move, Azula felt something turn cold. “I’m better now.”

“Azula, this isn’t a good time.” Ty Lee gently reached for her. “This isn’t a good place.”

Azula swatted her away. “What do you mean? I’m better now.” It was growing far too cold. “I’m better now!” And she wanted to burn something down. Wanted to burn so many things down. “I forgave you, you know? You betrayed me, and I should’ve killed you. I couldn’t, obviously, and I know now that throwing you in prison to rot was wrong, but you still betrayed me. And I forgive you. I forgive you!” So many things. “And then… and you… And you left me. You never visited. You never wrote. You’ve left me to rot. You… You keep betraying me. You’re a traitor! Always a traitor!”

Ty Lee shut her eyes.

And it took Azula a second to realise she was trying not to cry. A second to feel a pang of something horrible. “I’m sorry.” She reached out for Ty Lee, but Ty Lee just backed up. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Ty Lee, I’m sorry. I didn’t…” She did, and that was the problem. After Azula’s hands fell back to her sides, she decided to breath instead. To use one of the Avatar’s mediation techniques. “I want us to be friends again. You mean a lot to me.” She saw a glimmer of something that she hoped was hope in Ty Lee’s eyes and jumped on it. “Once I recover, once I’m serving as an advisor to my brother, if we’re friends, I can give you everything.”

A glimmer that disappeared too quickly. “It’s good to see that you’re trying your best.”

Azula never tried. If she needed to do something, she did it and she did it perfectly. “No.”

“Azula?”

“No!” Azula jumped to her feet and she was glad to see she was still taller than Ty Lee. “You don’t understand. You don’t know what you’re doing. Poor, useless, Ty Lee. Don’t you see what they’re doing to you?”

Ty Lee tensed as Azula circled around her. “What?”

Azula sniggered. “Of course you don’t.” She flicked a piece of dirt off the robes by Ty Lee’s neck. “You’re still scared of me.” That just made Ty Lee tense even more. “Of course you are. Because you know you betrayed me. You know that I never forget anything. You know what happens to traitors. You—”

Ty Lee moved. Quickly.

But Azula only coughed out a laugh after Ty Lee sent her to her knees. Only looked back up at her and grinned. “That’s my girl.” It was so right to see Ty Lee angry. So right to see her go on the offensive. So right to see that she had gotten something out of her friendship with Azula. “Now,” Azula pushed herself back to her feet. Moved quicker than Ty Lee. Grabbed her. Wrapped her fingers around her throat. “Let me show you what fear really looks like.”

A bead of blood formed around her nails, digging into Ty Lee’s throat. But Ty Lee didn’t react. Just stared at her, eyes wide with terror. And…

And Azula didn’t dig deeper.

Couldn’t dig deeper.

Azula’s hand trembled. Azula trembled. Eventually, she just let go. Let Ty Lee drop. The fear she had seen was enough. “Don’t forget what I can do to you.” Being a monster felt so right. And there was nothing that made her feel more like a monster than hurting Ty Lee. “Never forget.”

Ty Lee’s eyes faded back into the makeup. Faded back into calm as she picked herself back up. “I can’t do this.”

Azula laughed. Of course, she couldn’t. Ty Lee always was weak. Ty Lee always was… Ty Lee was turning away. “Where are you going?” The words came out before Azula could plan them. Before that cold crept back into Azula’s stomach. “Where?”

“I told you, Azula.” Ty Lee looked her and it was the steadiest look Azula had seen in a long time. “You need to get back to the palace. I’m going to go get backup.”

Backup. “No.” Azula’s arm stopped mid-air, stretching out towards her. “Wait.” Ty Lee stopped. And, for a minute, Azula said nothing. Azula couldn’t even look at her. She was supposed to write her a letter. She was supposed to say so many things. She was supposed to be better. “Is there something wrong with…” But she still hated how much her voice trembled. Her sneer was far more perfect. “Coward.”

Ty Lee gave her a look that Azula didn’t understand. “I do hope you find peace, Azula.” She bent down and picked a flower off the floor. Tucked it into the uneven part of Azula’s hair. “One day.”

Azula didn’t say anything more as Ty Lee left.

She didn’t say anything at all.

But before she could ask herself where Ty Lee found a flower in her cell, in her prison, a new group of Kyoshi Warriors stepped through the walls, fans and katanas ready. And the flower, in Azula’s hand, had already scattered to ash.


End file.
